John Morton

John Morton (1420-15 September 1500) was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1486 to 1500, succeeding Thomas Bourchier and preceding Thomas Langton, as well as Lord Chancellor from 1487 to 1500, succeeding John Alcock and preceding Henry Deane.

Biography
John Morton was born in Dorset, England in 1420, and he became Archdeacon of Norwich in 1460, also becoming a government lawyer. He sided with the Lancastrians during the Wars of the Roses; he was captured at Towton in 1461, but he escaped to France. He graduated from the University of Louvain in 1469 with a degree in theology, and he returned to England a year later. From 1472 to 1479, he served as Master of the Rolls, and he became ambassador to France in 1477. In 1486, after the House of Tudor defeated the House of York, Morton was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by the new King Henry VII of England, and he was made Lord Chancellor a year later. In 1493, he was made Cardinal-Deacon of St. Anastasia by Pope Alexander VI, representing England in Rome. During the 1490s, Morton replenished the once-depleted treasury, and he mentored Thomas More. Morton died in 1500 at the age of 80.